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Wii U to launch by end of 2012
Will be out by Christmas in all major markets

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has confirmed the Wii U will be available in Japan, Europe and the US by the end of the year.

Iwata confirmed the release date at the investor meeting following the release of the company's Q3 financial results.

Nintendo first hinted at a release window earlier this month, when US boss Reggie Fils-Aime said "Wii U will launch some time between E3 - which is in June - at the end of the year so essentially the second half of the year.

Fils-Aime went on to say it would "share more information between now and E3 and after E3", with details such as pricing and specs expected to be revealed.

Yesterday an anonymous developer claimed to have the Wii U hardware specs and said it will have around twice the processing and graphical power of Microsoft's Xbox 360 console.

Other rumors have indicated the Wii U will have E-Reader functionality and a full Nintendo app store.

Iwata issued today's Wii U update as Nintendo more than trebled its loss forecast for the business year ending March 31, 2012, from the 20 billion yen (£165 million) expected back in October to 65 billion yen (£535 million).